THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
a synod in Tyre. He left Alexandria July 11, 335, but found at Tyre that the council had made up its mind to condemn him, and repaired to Constantinople, where he succeeded in convincing the emperor of the unfairness of the synod. Constantine saw in him, none the less, an obstacle to peace, the maintenance of which seemed the most desirable thing, and banished him to Treves toward the end of the year. Constantine died May 23, 337, and Athanasius 's first exile ended with his return to his diocese, Nov. 23 of the same year, his entrance into the city being, according to Gregory Nazianzen, " more triumphal than had ever an emperor."
The opposition and intrigues still continued, however; the enemies of Athanasius accused him of having sold and employed for his own use the corn which the late emperor had destined for the poor widows of Egypt and Libya. A synod of African bishops declared in his favor, but as Constantius was influenced by Eusebius of Nicomedia, and as the prefect of Egypt, Philagrius, wanted the 4. Second see for a countryman of his own, Gregand Third ory of Cappadocia, he was driven into Exiles. his second exile March 19, 339, and Gregory was installed by military force at Easter. Athanasius went to Rome, where he was well received by Pope Julius, and later to Gaul to confer with Hosius, whom he accompanied to Sardica to take part in the famous council held there (343?). After spending some time at Na'issus in Dacia, at Aquileia, and in Gaul (where he met Constans, whose influence with his brother was exerted in his favor), he finally appeared once more before Constantius, and obtained permission to return. Gregory died June 25, 345, and was not replaced; and Athanasius was able to resume his jurisdiction Oct. 21, 346. After the death of Constans (Jan., 350), his position once more became unsafe; and the end of a long series of intrigues and machinations was that the " Duke " Syrianus surrounded the church of St. Theonas with 5,000 soldiers to arrest him on the night of Feb. 8, 356. He escaped, and fled the next day, finding refuge during this his third exile among the monks and hermits of the desert, though for a part of the time he lay concealed within the city, and by his writings continued to encourage his faithful followers. On Feb. 24, 357, another Cappadocian, George, was made bishop, and as many as possible of the ecclesiastical offices were filled by Arians. George, however, was able to maintain himself for only eighteen months, and then, after a three years' absence, was imprisoned three days after his return, and put to death in the disturbances which followed the death of Constantius. The new emperor, Julian the Apostate (361-363), issued an edict permitting the exiled bishops to return to their sees, hoping thus to increase the confusion in the Church, to the profit of the paganism which he was bent on restoring. The third exile of Athanasius thus ended Feb. 21, 362.
But a fourth exile followed shortly. The new emperor's counselors found Athanasius too dangerous a man for their plans, and Julian issued a special edict commanding him, as he had returned to
Alexandria without personally receiving permission, to leave it at once (Oct. 24, 362). He remained in concealment in the deserts of the Thebaid until he heard of Julian's death (June 26,
363), when he returned to Alexandria
5. Fourth (Sept. 5), though only to pass through
and Fifth on his way to see the new emperor,
Exiles. Jovian, at Antioch. Jovian received
him kindly, and his fourth exile was definitely terminated by his return on Feb. 20, 364. Jovian's death after only eight months brought fresh trouble to the orthodox. An edict of Valens (May 5, 365) reversed Julian's recall of the exiled bishops; and on Oct. 5 the prefect Flavianus broke into the church of St. Dionysius and compelled Athanasius to flee once more. He remained at a villa in the neighborhood of the city, until Valens found the discontent in so important a place as Alexandria dangerous, and made a special exception in favor of Athanasius, who was able to return Jan. 31, 366. The last seven years of his episcopate were undisturbed.
The refuge of Athanasius among the monks and hermits of the desert during his third and fourth periods of exile leads up to a point which needs special mention — his relations with monasticism. Athanasius was not only the father of orthodoxy in the East, but also the first bishop to take an
active part in encouraging the mo-
6. Rela- nastic life. This assertion is so far
tions with from being founded on the "Life of
Monasti- Anthony " alone that it would still be
cism. demonstrable if his authorship of
that work were less certain than it is. From an early period he was in close relations with Egyptian monasticism. When the assembled bishops in 339 designate him as ' ' one of the ascetics" (referring to the motives which led to his election), it may mean no more than that he belonged to the large number in the Christian community who practised the ascetic life in varying degrees, without retiring from the world. We can not say whether his personal intercourse with Anthony (d. 356) occurred altogether after he was a bishop or partly before. But he came early in his episcopate into contact with Pachomius (d. 345), who came out with his brethren to greet their new bishop when he undertook a visitation of the Thebaid between the "Easters of 328 and 329. Lasting relations with this colony were kept up by means of the yearly visits of deputations of the monks to Alexandria for the purpose of making necessary purchases. Pachomius is reported to have said that there were three sights specially pleasing to the eyes of God in the Egypt of his time — Athanasius, Anthony, and his own community of monks. Athanasius knew Theodore, the successor of Pachomius, and visited him in his desert retreat at Phboou — probably in 363, for which year we have evidence of a journey as far south as Antinoe and Hermopolis. So well known were these relations that an imperial officer sent by Constantius to apprehend him in 360 searched for him, though in vain, at Phboou. When Theodore died (368), Athanasius